Just A Memory
by x - painted.flames
Summary: SephCloud; ---- Sephiroth will not become a memory; not like the blue-eyed boy with the bright smile and pretty laugh had.


I have an excuse this time. I was in the car for two hours with no acess to Silver Key, so I wrote this. :D

I tried to use a different style with this but . . .

I think I failed at it. D:

P.S. SephCloud equals new shonen-ai OTP.

P.P.S. You do NOT want to know how much formatting trouble this thing gave me when I tried to edit it in a FFN doc. -.-;;

* * *

_**Just A Memory**_

_So strong, yet so easily broken,_ thought the green-eyed man_(was he a man, or a monster?)_, as he watched the blue-eyed_(or were his eyes mako-green as well?)_ boy struggle to rise. _So pretty when in pain. So . . . beautiful._

It would feel so good to break him_(break him, break him, watch him shatter)_. To see tears spill from his crystalline eyes_(clear liquid from sky-blue, like rain)._ To see him writhe and twist in pain_(so very pretty in pain)_. To hear him scream_(scream, scream his heart out)_ in that broken, desolate way of his.

But somehow, he felt that he couldn't. He felt that if he hurt the boy, what little remained of his heart would crack and break, falling into darkness_(darkness had consumed him so, so long ago)_ as nothing more than shattered shards. Perhaps it was because of the feelings he used to have, for a boy_(a boy who had hurt him, had broken him)_ who used to love him. Those feelings he had torn apart and thrown away long ago, and yet they still lingered, telling him that it was wrong to hurt the boy_(but he was, oh, so pretty when he was in pain)_, telling him that if he cried_(cried those beautiful, beautiful tears)_ he should run to him and hold him close, comfort him and dry his tears. They told him that if he screamed, he should rip apart_(like the boy had ripped apart his heart)_ whatever it was that was frightening him, to protect him from harm. They told him he could not hurt the boy_(but he wanted to hurt him, so badly)_ without hurting himself.

So you see, he really couldn't hurt the boy_(so pretty in pain)_. Could he? He looked down at the boy_(so pretty)_, who had now gotten to his feet and was preparing to attack_(silly boy, you can't hurt me)_.

Maybe he could. It hurt_(hurt, hurt so much)_, but he could still push aside his tattered emotions for long enough to inflict pain_(pretty, pretty)_ on the boy.

He lashed out, throwing the boy back against a wall, then ran the Masamune through his shoulder_(does it hurt now, Cloud?)_, fully expecting him to scream and break into tears like he always did_(you always were weak, Cloud)._

He didn't.

He didn't cry out; his eyes didn't even widen. Instead, they narrowed, as he glared at the green-eyed man with defiance completely foreign to the ex-General.

Shock_(but was it really so shocking, after what he did?)_ rippled through him, though he took care not to show it. This was _not_ the boy_(the pretty, pretty boy)_ he knew. The boy he knew was small, quiet, shy, and submissive. He would _never(never, never ever)_ stand up to the ex-General like this. And he most certainly would not have taken that blow_(why, why didn't it hurt him?)_ the way he did. The boy he knew would have cried out upon impact, then frantically try to pull the blade out, cutting his hands to ribbons in the process, while tears he couldn't hold back_(those were the prettiest kind)_ spilled from his eyes.

This boy's– no, this _man's_ reaction could not differ more from that. He didn't understand it_(why, why is this happening?). _Could the blonde, blue-eyed boy who used to love him have really changed that much? The thought almost made the ex-General's heart stop.

_No!_ He refused to believe it. Cloud could not have changed_(he wouldn't allow him to change!)_. Cloud was Cloud, no one else. He was still that shy, quiet, beautiful boy(_that boy who had cared more than anyone else ever had)_ he remembered. He had merely learned to hide his emotions, as Sephiroth himself had. All he had to do was pull apart his barriers, and then the boy would break, oh, so beautifully! But perhaps violence was not the answer. He had seen the boy stand up to that_(but how, how did he stand up to him like that?)_, but he was sure that an attack on his mental state would have far more effect. He smirked down at the boy, matching the heated glare with a cool one of his own.

"Tell me, Cloud. What do you cherish most? Give me the pleasure of taking it away." _(I'll take it all away from you, all of it)_

He expected him to freeze, then stumble over his words_(you never could speak your mind, could you, Cloud?)_ as he frantically tried to find a way out of this situation, just like he had when Sephiroth asked him if he loved him_(and you said you did, Cloud, but that was a lie, wasn't it?)_, all those years ago.

He didn't.

Instead, he glared more fiercely at the ex-General and grabbed the blade of the Masamune, pulling it out and stabbing it into the wall behind him_(where did this strength come from?!)_. Sephiroth had to let go of the sword and leap backwards several feet, or risk being decapitated by the sword Cloud was now wielding.

"I pity you. You just don't get it all."

__

(Don't I, Cloud?)

"There's not a thing I don't cherish!"

__

(What?!)

Sephiroth watched as Cloud leapt off the building, slightly stunned at this declaration. The Cloud he knew would never have said something like that. The Cloud he knew would not have stood up to him like that. The Cloud he knew would never do _anything_ this man was doing.

And then, he finally understood.

Cloud was no longer that blue-eyed boy with the bright smile_(it was like the sun, so beautiful and bright)_ and pretty laugh_(it was musical and happy, never forced, always light)_, no longer that person who had broken through Sephiroth's barriers and made him smile_(you always could make me smile, Cloud)_. He was something entirely different, something Sephiroth knew nothing about_(what are you?!)_. And somehow he knew that the blue-eyed boy he used to know, wasn't coming back. Somewhere inside him, something broke_(the remains of a heart, shattered into a million pieces)_ and he hardly noticed the Omnislash until it hit him.

__

(You really aren't Cloud anymore, are you?)

Cloud stared up at the One-Winged Angel with eyes that were no longer blue_(pretty, pretty blue, like the sky)_, but mako-green_(that ugly, horrible, mako-green)_. "Stay where you belong. In my memories."

The ex-General met Cloud's gaze evenly. "I will never become a memory." _(Not like you did, Cloud)_

He folded his one black wing around him and allowed Kadaj to come out again, while he retreated back into his memories of a blue-eyed boy who could always make him smile.

Because that's all Cloud really was anymore. He was just a memory now.

__

(Just a memory)


End file.
